UEFA Euro 2024: Group F Preview

Portugal 🇵🇹 

One of the highest-ranked nations in Euro 2024, Portugal has been one that is usually in the conversation as favourites, given their production of elite players. They shocked Europe in 2016, defying the odds to win the tournament, their first major title. Since then, the quality of their player pool has increased but they crashed out early in the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020 plus suffering a shock defeat to Morocco in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals. After the 2022 World Cup, Roberto Martinez was appointed, succeeding Fernando Santos. Martinez was an odd appointment, given his time as Belgium coach, which ended poorly at the end of his tenure. Portugal were flawless throughout qualifying. Winning all ten matches, scoring 36 goals and conceding just two. The best side throughout the qualifiers. Despite being aged 39 and playing in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo is in the squad for a record sixth appearance in the Euros. He’s still bagging in the goals with Al-Nassr, scoring 35 league goals and was Portugal’s top scorer in qualifying with ten goals. The Lusos can call on Rafael Leao, Joao Felix, Diogo Jota, Pedro Neto or Goncalo Ramos, outlining their attacking depth. The midfield and defence are also filled with quality choices. Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha will anchor the midfield with Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva providing the creativity and guile. Pepe is still around now at 41 but Ruben Dias will marshall the backline with either Goncalo Inacio or Antonio Silva. With a squad filled with talent but balanced, Portugal are one of the favourites to win the tournament alongside the heavy hitters in England and France. With less pressure on them, having won the Euros recently, they can sprung a surprise and can take the initiative when needed. Heavy favourites like top their group with nine points, they can navigate their way to the final in Berlin so they get a kind draw. In what is potentially Ronaldo’s last tournament, he will have something to say to end his career on a high. 

Likely Starting XI:- D. Costa - Cancelo, Inacio, Dias Dalot - Palhinha, R. Neves, B. Fernandes - Jota, Ronaldo, B. Silva (4-3-3)

Turkey 🇹🇷 

A proud fanatical football country, Turkey is a country of tremendous potential of becoming a football powerhouse but has never materialize for various reasons. They have had two major showings this century. The first being the 2002 World Cup, where they finished third and the 2008 Euros, where they reached the semifinals but lost narrowly against Germany. Since then, they have failed to qualify for the Word Cup and were knocked out in the group stage of Euro 2016 and 2020. Having produced the likes of Hakan Sukur, Arda Turan, Nuri Sahin, Hamit Altintop and Hakan Calhanoglu. Former Roma star Vincenzo Montella is the head coach of the Crescent-Stars, taking the helm from September last year. He only coached three games during Turkey’s qualifying campaign but the Turks impressed. Finishing top of the group, ahead of Croatia and Wales. Suffering just one defeat in eight games. They have gone through an injury crisis that has affected their plans going into Germany. Cengiz Under, Enes Unal, Ozan Kabak and Caglar Soyuncu have all been ruled out for the tournament due to injury. Captain Hakan Calhanoglu is coming off a league-winning campaign with Inter, playing at the base of midfield while rising star Arda Guler had a strong end to his debut season at Real Madrid. Other. noticeable players include Zeki Celik, Merih Demiral, Salih Ozcan and Orkun Kokcu. It’s very hard to assess how good Turkey, whilst they had a strong qualifying campaign, they are yet to win a game this year. Losing three in their last four, including a 6-1 hammering at the hands of Austria. With Portugal clear favourites to top the group, the question is who finishes second. On paper, it should be Turkey but they often disappoint rather than surprise. 

Likely Starting XI:- Gunok - Kadioglu, Muldur, Demiral, Celik - Ozcan, Calhanoglu - Yilmaz, Kokcu, Guler - Tosin. (4-2-3-1)

Czechia 🇨🇿

Since becoming an independent nation in the 1993, Czechia have qualified for every European Championship since 1996, their first outing. In their first three showings, they were runners-up in 1996 and made the semifinals in 2004. Having been blessed with a golden generation which contained Petr Cech, Pavel Nedved, Milan Baros, Tomas Rosicky and Patrik Berger. In Euro 2020, they had a fine outing, making the last eight, which included a 2-0 win against the Netherlands in the last 16. Ivan Hasek recently appointed in January this year following his predecessor Jaroslav Silhavy resigning after clinching qualification. The Czechs qualified, finishing second in their group behind Albania on head-to-head. Patrik Schick, who was the joint top scorer with five goals in Euro 2020, just won a domestic double with Bayer. Leverkusen. Albeit as a backup. For the Czechs, he’s their main attacking threat, scoring 19 in 38 caps. Which puts him sixth in the Czech Republic’s all-time leading scorers. Captain Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal are the notable players while young winger Adam Hlozek is one to watch. It’s rare for lighting to strike twice for the Czech. They have never gone to the knockout stage in consecutive tournaments and were one of the lowest scoring teams that qualified for the tournament. They are an unknown quantity, having had just four games under Hasek, all were victories. They have a tough start against Portugal but their ties against Georgia and Turkey are more plausible. Can they get to the knockouts again?

Likely Starting XI:- Stanek - Holes, Zima, Krejci - 

Soucek - Coufal, Barak, Cerv, Jurasek - Schick,  Hlozek (3-1-4-2)

Georgia 🇬🇪 

The only debutant in the tournament, Georgia is a wildcard with very little knowledge about the Crusaders. Formed in 1990, Georgia have struggled trying to qualify for major tournaments, finishing in the two places in their qualification history so far. It was no different in the Euro qualifiers, finishing fourth of five teams with just eight points from eight matches. They were in a tough group with Spain, Scotland and Norway but they could only get draws from Scotland and Norway. Their two wins from the group came against the weakest team in Cyprus. Due to the showing in the Nations League, they made the playoffs, giving them another chance. They took it with both hands. Beating Luxembourg and Greece to make history. Former French defender Willy Sagnol has been at the helm since August 2021, with an impressive 50% win rate from 34 matches, playing with either a back three or five depending on the opposition. Napoli forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the face of team, given his success at Napoli and scoring 15 goals in just 30 caps. He was their top scorer in qualifying with four goals. His strike partner Georges Mikautadze scored three goals in qualifying and had a strong 2024, scoring 13 Ligue 1 goals for Metz. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili had a good year with La Liga outfit Valencia and will be busy, keeping things tight for the Crusaders. They are the lowest-ranked nation in the tournament and their poor record in qualifying make their chances of going through quite low. They have already made history making the finals, so for them, anything more is a big bonus.

Likely Starting XI:- Mamardashvili - Kashia, Dvali, Kvirkvelia - Chakvetadze, Kvekveskiri, Kochorashvili, Kiteishvili, Lobzhanidze - Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze (3-5-2)